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Re: The Fulford File| Illegal Immigration: The Trafalgar Square Solution
From: An Anonymous Graduate Student [Email him]
Reading James Fulford's most recent article on the evacuation of pigeons from Trafalgar Square I began to think back to the discussions of 2007-2008 on the high cost of deportation. A quick Google search reveals that head of ICE Julie Myers estimated it would approach $94 billion. [Estimate for Deporting Illegal Immigrants: $94 Billion By Mike Nizza, NYT Lede Blog, September 13, 2007]
I wonder if some enterprising economics graduate student, or perhaps VDARE.com's own Ed Rubenstein, didn't set that estimate against all of the estimated gains (incremental increase in tax revenue from job passing to an American citizen, incremental decrease (or increase) in social services/transfer payments based on the local or statewide demographic profile compared to national usage statistics, etc.) to derive a "True Cost of Deportation" figure.
If they did, I'm sorry I missed it because at only $94 billion that cost may have ultimately been a gain.
James Fulford writes: In fact, we’ve already done this—see National Data, By Edwin S. Rubenstein | No-one's Suggesting Mass Deportation—But It Would Pay For Itself Article National Data, January 26, 2006.
See also George Will Can't Count—Deportation No Problema By An Economist and Deportation At Reason-able Prices.
The basic principle is that any illegal immigrant automatically represents a financial loss for society as a whole. If you’re a an employer of cheap labor, the owner of a bodega, or a slumlord, you may make a personal profit , but everyone else pays higher taxes as a result.
Deportation represents a gain if it costs less than the services the illegal alien will consume. This can be millions, as much as four to six children multiplied by 10 years of schooling. (I was going to say 12 years, but remembered the dropout rate. )
Julie Myers’s figure assumed they could deport people for about $7,800, which would be a bargain.
This assumes that the US Government didn’t get in its own way with litigation paid for on both sides by the taxpayer. That could get expensive.
That being said, it would be an enormous task to deport all of them at once, and it’s not going to be tried.
My solution is much more elegant—just stop paying them to come.
